


Familiar

by yourhope



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, Fluff, continuing to spread the mom diakko agenda, their daughter is a mama's girl for akko and is full of pint-sized yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27481816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourhope/pseuds/yourhope
Summary: Even with Akko away on tour, sometimes it felt like she never left at all.
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Comments: 20
Kudos: 174





	Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for family diakko and I just had to write this. Hope you all enjoy!

It was a quiet morning in the Cavendish household. Diana sat by herself, settled into a loveseat, while skimming through the pages of a book. On the ground below her, lying on her stomach and doodling on a sheet of paper, was her three year old daughter, Yumi.

It was just the two of them together today, and it would be just the two of them for a while, because as of yesterday, Akko was kicking off her North American tour in New York and would be occupied overseas for the next few weeks.

Perhaps that was why it was so quiet. When such a lively, beloved member of their family was all the way in a different country, the effects of her absence were felt immediately. And while Diana had grown accustomed to handling the distance over the years, this was all still very new to Yumi and she was hardly fond of it, to say the least.

She had pouted all throughout the morning (only stopping when Diana successfully distracted her by making her favorite pancakes for breakfast). Diana could only hope the new activity she busied herself with would ease the gloom from her small face as well. Yumi normally loved drawing, and that love only mounted after she received a pack of magical crayons as a birthday gift.

She was enamored with them, especially considering they had been a gift from Akko. So she continued scribbling away, and kept to herself while doing so. A few moments later, however, a frustrated sigh and the sound of crumpling paper caught Diana’s attention.

“Yumi,” she lowered her book, “Everything alright?”

“I messed up,” Yumi grumbled. She pushed herself off the ground to grab another piece of sketch paper from the coffee table in front of them. She settled back onto the floor and her brow knitted in concentration as she picked up one of her crayons and started from scratch.

Diana let her work for a moment before leaning forward to ask, “What are you drawing?” 

“Mama.” Yumi paused. “I mean Kaa-chan,” she said decidedly. Diana grinned. That had been happening a lot lately. 

Yumi had reached the age where she was beginning to differentiate between English and Japanese and making the conscious decision to use one language over the other whenever she saw fit. And given that Akko normally spoke to Yumi in Japanese, their daughter typically returned the favor when in her presence. But with Akko being gone, maybe Yumi using Japanese was just her way of feeling something familiar.

“May I see the drawing of Kaa-chan?” Saying that, Diana had to admit it did almost make Akko feel closer in a way.

Yumi’s red eyes met hers, her face determined, and shook her head. “No Mummy, you have to wait ‘til it’s done. I have to make it just right, then you can see.”

Diana let out a soft chuckle and reached down to gently place a hand atop her daughter’s head, smoothing out the wisps of short blonde hair. “Alright, love. I’ll be patient.”

Yumi bobbed her head. “Mm. Pa-tient,” she repeated, sounding out the syllables carefully.

She dutifully got back to her drawing, while Diana leaned back into the loveseat meant for two and sometimes three, but for now, just one. She glanced at the empty space and sighed to herself. In time, that space would be filled once more.

Silence came to fill the air, save for the scratching of crayon against Yumi’s paper and the occasional turn of a page from Diana’s book. She must have read a dozen pages before the noise of Yumi’s artistry finally ceased. Diana didn’t realize it until she heard a quiet, yet deliberate hum of satisfaction and looked up.

Yumi was peering down at her paper, surveying it thoroughly with her eyes narrowed and her tongue poking out of her mouth. Diana had gone so many years seeing that exact face on her wife, she couldn’t help but smile fondly. That was the one thing that made Akko’s absences more bearable. Knowing there was so much of her in their child, it sometimes almost felt like she never left.

Sure enough, when Yumi turned to her with her face beaming, it was like Diana was seeing the two people she loved most all at once.

“Are you finished with your drawing?” she asked, lowering her book to her lap. Yumi eagerly nodded and pushed herself off the ground, scrambling toward Diana with her paper in hand.

“All done,” she chirped, coming to a halt at Diana’s kneecaps. “ _Mite_!”

Yumi held the drawing up so closely to her face, that Diana, whose face was now colored in amusement, had to pull away in order to see it properly.

“Wow,” she said, marveling at the artwork. “Isn’t this lovely?”

And truthfully, it _was_ a lovely drawing. Diana was never one to lie to her child, and while her art was certainly that of a three year old’s, that was what made it so endearing. How innocently and authentically a young girl could depict the mother she missed so dearly couldn’t be anything _but_ lovely.

She took in the large smile Yumi had given Akko as she stood against the page. Her bright red eyes that, even in crayon, seemed to glow with happiness. Diana felt her chest warm knowing this infectious joy was the lasting impression Akko had left with their daughter and what Yumi chose to remember first when she was gone.

Diana also noticed the streaks of brown lines making up Akko’s hair that stopped right above her shoulders, the same way Yumi’s did. Of course it had been a while since Akko’s hair was that short and it was much longer now, but Yumi liked it most when the two of them matched. Perhaps that was why the outfit Akko was wearing looked strikingly similar to Yumi’s own clothes. Diana gave a knowing grin, but she didn’t say a word of it. 

Instead she said, “I bet Kaa-chan would love this drawing very much. You did an excellent job”

Yumi smiled modestly at her praise before adding, “I still have to do the magic. Watch me!” She lifted one of the magical crayons and pressed it into the very center of the drawing. For a moment, nothing happened. 

Then the paper began to glow, the tell-tale sign that magic was at work. And if Diana hadn’t already seen these many times before, she would watch, entranced, as the drawing on the page seemingly came to life, lifting itself off the paper, and floated in the air between the two of them. This was the true appeal of the magic crayons. Being able to interact with drawings like this, even if for only a few minutes before the magic wore off and it settled back onto the page.

They watched the sketch of Akko grow more animated, blinking its eyes and bending its stick-like limbs as if trying to stretch. It looked between them both, flashing them with its wide smile. Yumi giggled as it raised a scraggly drawn hand and greeted them with a wave.

“Look, Kaa-chan’s saying hi,” she said, waving in return. Diana did the same. 

“She certainly is. Good morning, dear.”

“ _Ohayou_ ,” Yumi parroted as she leaned closer, resting her hands on Diana’s knees. 

Diana lowered the hand she had waved with and placed it over Yumi’s. “It’s so nice you could join us today,” she addressed the drawing, “We miss you very much, don’t we?”

Yumi nodded. The drawing stopped waving for just a moment to look between them again, blinking and smiling. Then it continued waving, as expected of a magical loop. Despite this, Yumi watched it carefully and turned to Diana to say, “Kaa-chan says she misses us too.”

“Oh, does she?” Diana smiled, playing along.

“Mhm. And she says she wants to come home and play with me again because she likes it the most,” Yumi narrated. 

“Is there anything else she wants to do when she comes home?”

“She… she wants to give us lots of hugs and have lots of fun and—and eat lots of ice cream too.”

Diana stifled a laugh knowing those were namely things Yumi wanted, but it wasn’t as if Akko would ever turn them down. Especially not the hugs and ice cream. “Well, when Kaa-chan really does come home, I’m sure we can do some of those things.”

Yumi, however, pouted, her cheeks swelling in an ever familiar way. “But Kaa-chan won’t be home for a long, long time.”

Diana knew that to a child, a few weeks might as well have been an eternity. Sometimes it felt that way for her too. But she had enough experience with Akko’s tours to know no matter how long they were, they could always make it through them.

“Don’t worry. She’ll be back before you know it. And we can talk to her everyday on the crystal ball or the telephone until she comes back home. We can even call her later when she finally wakes up in New York to show her your drawing,” Diana offered.

Yumi perked up a little. “Really?”

“Of course. And I know seeing it and seeing you will make her so happy.”

Yumi considered this for a moment and Diana was glad to see her lips curl upward. “Then I should draw lots more stuff so Kaa-chan will be more happy.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Diana said. She turned to the floating drawing. “Don’t you agree, dear?” 

They watched the Akko doodle continue to smile for a second before Yumi answered with, “Kaa-chan says yeah!”

“Then you should get busy. You can draw as much as you want until Kaa-chan wakes up and when she does, we can surprise her together.”

“Yay, surprise!” Yumi bounced in her excitement. 

A delicate stream of laughter fell from Diana’s mouth. Her eyes softened as she watched her daughter who was still so transfixed with the drawing of Akko, and would be until the magic wore off. Of course no drawing could ever replace the real thing, but in this moment, Diana was grateful something like this could allow Yumi’s spirit to return. And what a truly familiar spirit it was. Diana’s smile grew. 

Yes, sometimes it did feel like Akko had never left at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
